Artist Stands by His Controversial "Skinny" T-Shirt

"I'm not trying to promote anorexia."

By
Charles Manning

Jun 28, 2014

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New York-based artist and designer Christopher Lee Sauvé recently became a subject of national news in Canada when customers at the Hudson's Bay Company began tweeting their disgust over the fact that the Canadian department store was selling one of his T-shirts. Sauvé designed the shirts with the phrase "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" printed on a nutrition label, and critics of the T-shirts claimed they promoted eating disorders. Cosmopolitan.com called him up to ask what he was thinking when he created a shirt that was sure to be controversial. "I'm always getting in trouble for something," he said. "It's like an ongoing thing."

Sauvé explained that he first designed the T-shirt in 2010, the year after Kate Moss made the phrase infamous by claiming it as her personal motto during an interview with WWD. Sauve said that although the T-shirt was, in fact, inspired by Moss, he had never said that explicitly until he talked to Cosmopolitan.com, and he pointed out that the phrase was actually older than the model's quote — he said he first heard that phrase when his mom and aunts were in Weight Watchers.

According to Sauvé, Hudson's Bay Company approached him a few months ago hoping that his edgy T-shirts would help them reach a younger consumer. Once the controversy began, though, the company quickly backtracked and pledged via Twitter that they would be removing the T-shirts from their stores and website right away.

.@KristinEff@bcuban Thanks for your feedback. It is very valuable to us. This t-shirt is being removed online and from stores immediately.

"No one from Hudson's Bay ever reached out to me," Sauvé said. "I had to find out [about them pulling the shirts] through Twitter. I still haven't heard from them."

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The controversy got national attention in Canada, where it was broadcast on the six o'clock news "They had people calling me stupid and untalented," Sauvé said. "They were running up to people on the street and asking them, 'What do you think of this pro-anorexia T-shirt?' No one was doing any research about me or my work. No one even bothered to just ask me, 'What does this mean?'"

Sauvé says he is sympathetic to those suffering from eating disorders. "I have friends who have dealt with these issues," he said, but he stands behind his work. In a statement published on his Tumblr feed, he wrote: "My sincerest apologies to anyone that I may have offended with my designs. I believe wholeheartedly in my work, however, and I can't apologize for that."

And in fact, instead of lying low after the controversial, Sauvé designed a new T-shirt that reads "Kate called, she wants her T-shirt back in all sizes." "This is what I do. I'm a reactor to pop culture," he said. Anything that happens in fashion or news, I react to visually. That's just who I am. I can't stop. I don't think people should be targeting the Bay [Hudson's Bay Company] or me or the artwork. I think they should be researching and getting informed before reacting to something."